Two powerhouses of Canada's Indigenous music scene have lifted the curtain on a new collaboration.

Buffy Sainte-Marie and Tanya Tagaq paired for the track You Got To Run (Spirit Of The Wind), which has debuted online.

Sainte-Marie wrote the song about Alaskan dog sled racer George Attla who finished fourth in the inaugural Iditarod in 1973, and won the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous 10 times. His story was retold in the 1979 film Spirit of the Wind.

The singers joined together as part of a series of collaborations organized by the brain trust behind the Polaris Music Prize.

Both Sainte-Marie and Tagaq are former Polaris winners. Sainte-Marie grabbed the 2015 award for Power in the Blood, while throat singer Tagaq's album Animism won a year earlier.

Tagaq says the song's theme suggests "you can't let things bring you down," which she says could also be interpreted as an anti-suicide message.

Canada's Indigenous communities have been wracked by youth suicides amid calls for action to address the crisis.

Corrections

This story previously stated that George Attla won the inaugural Iditarod in 1973. In fact, he finished fourth.